September 27, 2012

Hello, hello! I'm just popping in to share a card I made for this week's MOJO260 - yep, that's right. I actually stamped a card for a challenge while the challenge is current, haha! I'm always so far behind, it's crazy. I had some unexpected free time and thought I'd get my stamps inky just for kicks.

September 26, 2012

I started by stamping her in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored her with Copic markers after cutting out some white card stock with a Rectangle STAX Set 2 Die-namics die. The patterned papers are from the Sweet Day 6x6 paper pack from Echo Park and I used the Fishtail Flags STAX Die-namics to cut out the little banner hanging down. For the circle elements in the sketch, I used a few Red Hot Buttons with white thread.

I stamped the sentiment on the inside and added some stitching along with more Sweet Day papers.

Be sure to hop on over to the MFT Blog for a complete list of all the designers playing along in this week's stamp club along with all the challenge details.

September 25, 2012

It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge.
This is a monthly opportunity for us to share what makes our stamping
studios hum. Each month we will have a fun, crafty question so we can
share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more.

The question for September is:

Within Arm's Reach - What do you keep within arm's reach at your stamp table? Show us what you have access to without leaving your seat. What organization methods do you use? Tell us which ones you love and which ones you'd
like to change.

I think I need a moment of honesty here. My desk in only this clean when I have to take pictures of it. Don't get me wrong, I do clean up somewhat in between cards, but when I get behind and have to make lots of things in a short amount of time, you can't even see my desk, or even the floor for that matter. And let's be real here. I just moved one pile of crazy over to the other side of my desk while I took a photo of how neat and organized I am. Haha! BUT - what you see here is how I do keep myself organized. The mess is in all the card stock I will put away "later". Now that I got that off my chest, here is my post.

Welcome to my desk! I always rearrange my work space, but this is what I've got going on right now and it seems to work for me. I'll just work left to right on my desk. First up is all of my inks and Copic markers. I bought a couple of these Quickutz storage systems in black a few years
ago and then when I went to order another one, they were
discontinued!! The shame! I love these little cubes. My markers are
about to explode out of it, so I'll have to find something different for
my inks soon. I also have my border dies in a Mason jar, which I love! It's so easy to find the border I'm looking for. The rest of my dies are in various school boxes, and well, that system definitely needs a makeover. I'm still looking for a good die storage system. You can see my Copic color chart and Moka hair chart there as well. I use those a lot!

Inside the drawers of the storage units I have my embellishments. This
one has my Kaisercraft rhinestones and pearls in it. I hold them
together with a metal ring clasp and then I can find the color I'm
looking for really easily.

I have a hutch on top of my desk that holds lots of stuff. The things I use most in here are the adhesives and stamp cleaners.

I also keep more embellishments up here, like buttons, brads and my embossing powders.

In between the hutch doors, I have a shelf with my 6x6 papers and ribbon.

The paper is in the little box and the ribbon is in the jars. I have most of it wound on doll head clothes pins, but some of the ribbon is in little baggies and spools. I gotta get in there and organize it again.

To the right of my computer I keep my Spellbinders dies in Mini Binder Boxes and small paper trimmer. I also have my iPod speaker and a little carousel with scissors, pens, and random tools. Don't mind the dust - haha!

Last, I have my die cut machine - a Vagabond, and my Janome Sew Mini. These items are used on every single card I make.

Please hop on over to see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen have at arms reach. I can't wait to find new storage ideas myself!

September 24, 2012

Good morning! I'm really excited to show you my little project today. I made this about a month ago and just managed to grab some photos of it. A while back, the Silhouette Blog had this free shape of the week, which just happened to match some bedding we bought for my daughter and I had to make one of these frames for her room. Here's a look at the whole frame -

The frame is an 8x10 with a 5x7 matte inside. I used the free shape from Silhouette, which is the vine background, and used the negative image of it, so the vines are cut from the white card stock and then I slipped a sheet of yellow card stock behind the white. The flowers are a 5-petal punch from EK Success and then I added a black rhinestone in the center of each flower.

Here's a detail shot of the sentiment -

I changed up the sentiment from the shape they used on the blog - I didn't have the sentiment they used, and didn't want to buy it, so I just made my own using the Silhouette Studio software that came with my Silhouette and used fonts I have on my computer. If you are curious, the words are Bambi Bold and the heart flower is DB Cherish. I edited the phrase so the letters overlapped somewhat and then welded the image into one cut file so I wouldn't need to glue on each letter individually. There is a tutorial on that technique here.

I really like the way this one turned out and I have to remember to make more of these types of projects.

September 23, 2012

It's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! Here
is the deal: make a card with this layout and use the InLinkz button
down at the very end of this post to enter your card. The links will
close in two weeks, next Friday at 10 PM (Mountain Time). Be sure to
link directly to the blog post or gallery image which features your
card. You may post a picture of the sketch on your blog, but please
save the image to your computer first. Use the keyword SSSC168 if you plan to post your card in an online gallery.

WANT TO BE A GUEST Sweet Sunday Stamper?
I'll be picking my favorite card or project after each challenge and
that winner will have a special guest spot as a designer on a future
Sweet Sunday Challenge. I'm SO excited about this! You can enter as
many different cards as you'd like before the following Friday deadline,
so get stampy!

I will be announcing the next Guest Sweet Sunday Stamper later this
week, so be sure to check back to see if you will be joining the design
team for SSSC169!

I cut out the license plate with the Vanity License Plate Die-namics with some A Boy's Life 6x6 paper from Echo Park and then stamped the QTPIE in Memento Tangelo ink. The banners in the background are cut from the same paper pack with some Fishtail Flags STAX Die-namics and then I switched it up a bit and added some yellow pearls in the corners of the plate. I tried the 3 along the side like the sketch, but it just looked weird. So I messed up and cheated. Haha!

September 19, 2012

It's been a bout a week since I've picked up any stamps and created something, so I feel a little rusty. It's crazy how getting out of my routine has turned my mojo away, haha! I started by stamping her in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored her with Copic markers. I also stamped her again on some The Sweetest Thing Tangerine 6x6 papers from My Mind's Eye and paper pieced her dress (I stamped the bow again on white card stock and paper pieced it on top of the dress). The image is cut out with a Rectangle STAX Set 1 Die-namics and I masked it with Hot Fudge Card Stock with a Rectangle STAX Set 2 Die-namics die.

I kept the inside simple, layering more of the patterned paper and card stock and stamped a sentiment from the set at the top, leaving room for a personal note.

Be sure to hop on over to the MFT Blog for a complete list of all the designers playing along in this week's Stamp Club.

September 16, 2012

Taylored Expressions is proud to announce the premiere of a new and exciting stamping talent competition, Last Card Standing. Based in part on very popular reality competitions such as Last Comic Standing, Project Runway, and Chopped,
TE is looking for the very best and creative card-makers to stamp their
way to the top. Each week, finalists will be challenged to create a
themed card for a panel of celebrity judges in hope of avoiding
elimination. Finally, the Top 5 Finalists will be voted on by the
public, with the stamper receiving the most votes to win the title of
Last Card Standing!

What’s at stake? An amazing prize package that includes a 3 month subscription to the Key Ingredients kit club plus 2 full size stamp sets of the winner's choice and a coveted Guest Designer spot for the November/December Release!

The competitionhas just started with the Open Casting Round. To enter, simply upload your best cards to your Splitcoaststampers Gallery using keyword: TELASTCARD. For this round, ANYTHING GOES -- Birthday, Thank You, Holidays, Get Well, Congratulations...the sky’s the limit! The only requirement is that you use at least 1 stamped image from Taylored Expressions.
Do you have a card that you think could get you a callback to the next
round? Go for it -- submissions do NOT have to be a new creation for the
Open Casting Round and you may enter as many cards as you want! Both
new and old projects will be considered.

Deadline for submission to Open Casting Round: Thursday, September 20, 2012 by 11:59 pm PST.

I made up a quick and easy card today - no coloring necessary for this one. I saw Retro Sketches #29 and thought it would be cute to use one of the telephone stamps from Let's Chat.

What I really like about having a coordinating die with a stamp set is you can use it to quickly cut out the image and you can use colored card stock to "fill" the color instead of coloring it by hand. I stamped the phone on green card stock and on Choice Snow White Card Stock and then cut out the phone with the coordinating Let's Chat Telephones Die and cut out the white dial by hand. I added some Black Pearls for the rotary buttons.

Thanks so much for stopping by today - I hope to see you in the TE Forum for our Last Card Standingcontest!

September 15, 2012

Hello!! I'm happy to be here to announce the next guest stamper for SSSC168! The entries for this sketch were absolutely phenomenal and I love to see all the different ways you all bring your own unique and creative touches to your card. I'm always such a literal follower of a sketch, so it's fun to see all those twists and turns.

Before I announce the winner, here are 5 of my favorites:

It's back to school with this adorable card from Broni. I love the banners as math flash cards - so clever!

Halloween cards are hitting blog land and I adore this little mummy - what a fun banner created by Katie!

Kim made a fantastic card for a boy - I love the striped banners with twine and the embossed kraft!

You just can't go wrong with a cute puppy dressed up as a bee! Tracy's card is fabulous and I love her coloring and the sentiment banner.

Cresta made this fabulous card with all sorts of fun banners. I love the *you* on the wavy banner and the different sized fishtail flags up top. Very cute!

This week's winner is.....

Broni!

Congratulations, Broni! I'll be contacting you shortly with the next sketch and your guest designer badge.

Thanks again to everyone who played along this week. Don't forget, there is still time to enter your card for SSSC167, which ends Friday night.

September 13, 2012

Welcome to the September edition of the Taylored Expressions Monthly
Calendar Challenge! You are all invited to play along - all you need
to do is use any calendar product from the TE store and link your project to the Inlinkz button on Taylor's blog.
If you play along in 10 or more of the monthly challenges, you will be
entered in a drawing to win a TE prize pack valued at over $150!!
Please use the keyword TECALCHAL
when entering your project to online
galleries.

Getting a late start? It's perfectly okay - all you need to
do is link up your projects at any time in the coordinating month's
Inlinkz on Taylor's blog before December 31st.